The De Boer company is a tent rental business. It is a leader in the area of the rental of temporary accommodation, realising projects for events (parties, festivals, fairs), as well as commercial premises (shops, supermarkets, offices) and temporary storage accommodation for emergency situations.

The head office is located in Alkmaar, with many sales offices spread throughout the world. The entire logisticall organisation is managed from the office in Bree (Belgium). The tents are distributed from this significant logistical location. In Bree, De Boer not only produces the tents; here they are also subjected to a complete inspection and then cleaned, before being taken to their next destination.

Cleaning these huge canvas sheets is a highly specialised job. The tent producer spent more than two years looking for a supplier who could fulfil all the requirements. Finally, Numafa CL was chosen to develop a unique canvas washer, in cooperation with De Boer.
The unique aspect of this is the drying. Previously, the long, square tent canvasses were hung in enormous drying silos after washing. This was a labour-intensive job, as well as taking a long time. In Numafa’s new cleaner, the canvasses are dried immediately by means of a combination of airblow and absorption drying.

The turnover time also played an important role in the choice of the right supplier. De Boer currently cleans 10,000 square metres of tent canvas a day. With the new machine, a capacity in excess of 22,000 square metres can be achieved, in ideal conditions.
Another innovation is the option of selecting a special washing programme in advance, whereby the times for soaking, rinsing, blowing dry and drying can be coordinated and the washing and drying quality is automatically guaranteed. Here too, time and energy savings are achieved.
The washing principle and choice of materials ensure that the canvasses are also less susceptible to wear than previously. The brush hairs, for example, were developed in such a way that wear is reduced to a minimum, adding two years to the useful life of the tent material.

The final system is 26.5 metres long, 8.5 metres wide and 8 metres high and weighs a total in excess of 13 tonnes. The machine was designed, built, tested and then dismantled in Numansdorp. The parts of the washing system were then transported to Belgium on two flatbed trailers. There, the machine was assembled again and installed in an industrial space specially built for cleaning these canvasses.